What Big Teeth

There has been a fair bit of interest in What Big Teeth since its release in America earlier in the year and it is easy to see why. Billed as “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children meets The Addams Family”, thus was a very strange, beguiling and very difficult to categorise dark fantasy. The American Amazon site lists it for ages 14-18, which I would agree with, however, adults could read this without ever catching on it was technically a teen novel. This is very mature YA which bleeds very closely with adult fiction, the fact that many existing reviews do not even mention it is YA would back that assumption up. It is most definitely aimed at older and capable readers, as it is very slow, atmospheric and lacks many of the traditional features of a YA teen novel, such as friendship, romance or a particularly big finish which resolves all. Alternatively, we are presented with one girl’s attempt to reconnect with her monstrous family after years in the wilderness. Part of the fun of the novel way trying to figure out what type of creatures Eleanor Zarrin’s family are? Hints and slights are dropped here and there, but it is never really clarified, and the novel admirably refuses to tread any of the tropes connected to Paranormal Romance or popular authors such as Sarah J Maas or Leigh Bardugo. Also, the word ‘werewolf’ is never used and there is nothing in the family history to say this is what they are, but they are ‘wolfish’ in some way, vividly drawn and altogether unpleasant.

The story is bizarre and takes its time setting its stall out in a dark gothic setting and will undoubtedly be too slow for younger readers. However, it is not particularly violent, and I would not recommend restricting any reader from trying it, although a certain level of emotional maturity will be required. Eleanor has been at boarding school for years, abandoned by her family, What Big Teeth begins when she returns to the remote New England family home, and it becomes quickly clear the family members can turn into monsters. It is initially vague whether Eleanor is the same as the rest of the family, an incident from years earlier is referred to, as is a confrontation at school where she bit another girl. Thinking of the potential teen readership again, not a huge amount happens in the first half of the novel, but things begin to move in the second half after a death and the arrival of her grandmother who begins to shake the family up in all sorts of ways. Eleanor is more like her Grandmere than she realises and a strange relationship forms and as the novel develops, we realise everybody is even less human than we thought. I loved the vagueness of the setting, the time period and Eleanor’s search into what and who she exactly she is. Some of the imagery in the final third was really wild and blew me away. In some ways What Big Teeth a very dark coming of age with Eleanor an outcast in her tight-knit family searching for answers to which nobody is prepared to give and, in the end realises there are more than one type of monster, and some are more powerful than others. AGE RANGE 14+

This was a real mind fuck of book and a mash up of genres, and made all the better for it.
The best way I could describe this would be a magical realism werewolf elements with a twist of horror thrown in.
This is extremely different from any other werewolf story I've read, so if you're going into it expecting the typical werewolf tropes...I'd suggest you to keep an open mind as it's not the main focus of this book, but nonetheless gives it an interesting twist.

The monstrous qualities of these characters made them so much fun to read about, especially Grandmere. Some of the descriptions of her in the latter half of the book were chilling.
There's something charmingly human about the monsters of this family, however. They each have their own personality and different familial bonds with each other. They may be monstrous but they still deal with real life family issues such as keeping secrets and misunderstanding each other.

There are some very strange elements to this story that I'm still not fully sure I understand, mainly surrounding Arthur and the family's strange magnetism towards him. However I don't believe this impacted my reading enjoyment so much as to detract from the rating.

I'd be really interested to see what else Rose Szabo writes in the future.
I think fans of Rory Power would also enjoy this.

What Big Teeth tells the story of Eleanor, a young woman who was sent away from her family to attend a boarding school across the country several years ago, and hasn't seen or heard from them since. After a violent altercation at school with one of the fellow students Eleanor packs her bags and heads back to her home. She's not expecting a warm reception, for several reasons, and finds a family strangely familiar, yet also alien to her; her family having moved on in her absence.

The Zarrin family aren't just normal people, however, and each of them holds a dark secret within them. Her grandmother, who rules the household, practices magic, her mother is covered in strange coral-like polyps and must stay wet, and her grandfather, father, cousin, and sister can all change into monstrous wolves and stalk the forests around their home. Despite this strangeness Eleanor seems to be the strangest of all of them, because she's not like the rest of them. She can't become the wolf, and despite trying all her life it doesn't seem like there's one within her. Instead, she has vague memories of something else stirring inside her, something she has no words for.

When her grandmother dies shortly after using her magics to read Eleanor's future Eleanor is left in charge of her grandmother's business, and charged with protecting the family she feels so separated from. When she learns that her mother's mother is still alive she writes to her, asking her to come and help, but this might not be the lifeline she's expecting as shortly after her Grandmere arrives things in the house begin to get worse.

From very early on reading What Big Teeth there are some definite Addams Family vibes going on in this book. The family are all creepy and odd in some way, have connections to magic and folklore, and live in a big mansion away from the rest of the small town community; a community that fears them. It has a Gothic feel baked into every character and moment, and I feel if you put a mood board together for this book it'd be creepy old houses and Tim Burton movies.

Rose Szabo is really good at putting this kind of aesthetic into the story but not going too far with it and making it feel over the top, too much like a caricature. They're able to infuse the house and the family with a strangeness that feels so other, yet everyone in the family feels like a real person. Yes, they might be extreme in some way, but you always feel like you understand what motivates them, why they act the way they do. Szabo is able to make these larger than life beings feel like real people, even if they can also transform into wolves; and that's a hell of an accomplishment.

The character of Eleanor is our main point of view for the book, and thanks to her having spent a number of years away from her family and needing to relearn who they are and what it's like to live with them we get to see them through this fairly fresh perspective. Their strangeness isn't new to her, but thanks to the intervening years away from them is feels like it is. Not only does this allow the readers an easy way into this family, to be shocked by their oddness, but it works well for the story too, and really help to set Eleanor as an outsider, which sets the story up to go in some interesting directions.

I liked Eleanor as a character, despite her making what I felt were some bad mistakes at times, but then that's part of any character's journey. Eleanor is the reason things go wrong in this book, or more precisely, her choices set the family down the path for things to go wrong. But where the rest of her family only seem to have one way of dealing with things, striking out violently, Eleanor is smart enough to know that that won't help them here, and has to use her difference from her family in order to save them. She doesn't have the power or the physical strengths of her family, so she has to learn to use her mind.

Ultimately, this seemed to be one of the main themes of the book; learning and looking for answers. Eleanor has to learn to find her place in a family that she doesn't recognise. She's searching for answers for why she's so different, and to learn more about the thing hidden inside of her. And she's digging into the family's past, trying to discover how they all ended up here.

These brief glimpses into the past were some of my favourite moments, and I loved it when her grandfather told the tale of his home country, some unnamed place somewhere deep in Europe. His story of this land where language didn't exist, where the bells sounded to warn the people of the approaching monsters, and his encounter with the powerful dark entity that stalked them may have been one of the shortest moments in the book, but it left a lasting impression. I think this was the moment that I realised that there was something a little special about this book, and about Rose Szabo as a writer. This tiny part set the tone for the whole novel, and was one of the creepiest and most disturbing moments. I'm hoping that we get to see more like this in Szabo's future work, and I know that if they ever decided to write an intense horror story it'd be incredibly chilling.

What Big Teeth is an interesting, Gothic YA story filled with mystery and horror elements. It's a story about finding your place in the world, of learning to accept your family for their faults and their strangeness. And it's a story about discovering who you really are; and all of it's wrapped up in this wonderfully dark, delightfully queer story. An outstanding debut from an author we should all be keeping an eye on.

First things first, I absolutely love both of the covers for the book. You can’t help but be curious

Hauntingly bizarre and disturbing in all the best kinds of ways.
The character build is fantastic. Twisted and terrifyingly interesting.

I love that plot is left like breadcrumbs to put together as you’re going. To keep you hooked and sinking into the book.
While I agree it has the Miss Peregrines peculiar children crossed with Addams family vibes, it’s most definitely unique.

I recommend giving this a read!

Firstly, a huge thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This novel has all the makings of a classic Gothic fairytale from the setting to the characters, Szabo does a great job of capturing the essence of the Gothic and bringing it to a contemporary fairytale.

Eleanor was a very interesting protagonist, sent away to a boarding school when she was young and, even upon returning, felt very much like an outsider in her own family. I really liked the way Szabo illustrated the stone Covenant between Eleanor and the rest of the Zarrin family. In the beginning, you feel just as uncomfortable as she does, wi­th unsettling animalistic descriptions that fell out of place for a typical family dinner – but the Zarrin’s aren’t a typical family.

It doesn’t take long before you start to wonder if Eleanor is treated as an outsider for a reason and that she is being unnecessarily harsh towards her family. I found myself being more drawn to the rest of the family like Grandpa Miklos, Margaret and Rhys and didn’t tie the way they were treated by Eleanor – especially when Grandma was around. The complicated character and family dynamics are one of the ways that this story gets its claws into the reader. There is just so much we don’t understand. The mystery contributed to the uneasy atmosphere which made this a novel that is very difficult to put down, even if it was difficult to follow at times.

At the start of the novel I did find it a little confusing working out what had happened between the prologue to the current day. Whilst this did make the pacing feel a little slow at first, it all quickly ramps up and I was totally inverted in the plot and in the characters. Each one of them has a mystery for you to unravel and Eleanor soon realised that she has no idea who she can trust. The only person she thinks she can trust is Arthur, who seemingly hasn’t aged over the eight years she’s been away and who everyone in her family appears to be infatuated with. I also loved how different Grandma Persephone was from Grandmére, both formidable matriarchs who have a lot of secrets and have very different ideas on how to protect their own.

The way Szabo writes is captivating, I also really enjoyed that there were some aspects that you have to just accept without any explanation which is something we don’t always have in contemporary Gothic stories even though that can be crucial to a successful Gothic novel. Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read and a must read for any Gothic fans. If the stunning cover hasn’t already sucked you in, the first chapter definitely will.

What big teeth by Rose Szabo.
A good read. Good story and some good characters. Likeable read. 4*.

What Big Teeth is a fantastically strange, gothic horror about a monstrous girl trying to fit into her monstrous family. With its slow pace, eccentric characters, and brutal viciousness, this book would definitely appeal to those who loved the Addams Family.

Eleanor has always been ostracised from her family of monsters, and she hasn't seen them since they sent her away to boarding school. Now she's back, and she's still struggling to fit in. When Grandma Persephone reads her future, what she sees kills her. Now Eleanor has to try and accept herself and her family, monsters and all, or else watch them fall apart.

Gothic fiction is one of my absolute favourite genres, and this one was especially exciting. This book has all the atmosphere, the tropes, the strangeness of gothic horror. Dark, dysfunctional families and relationships? A haunting? Monsters that linger behind human forms? It's got it all.

My childhood was littered with Addams Family references; I even had a cat named after Morticia Addams! I've always been such a fan of the trope of strange, unconventional families who are incredibly loyal to each other despite outsiders contention. The Addams Family is actually more functional than the one in this book, but the vibes are very similar.

One of my favourite themes of this book was how it depicted love not being about control. I don't want to give too much away, some characters are forced into behaving 'appropriately'. The book demonizes this form of control above all else. To love someone you have to accept them and their desires. If they aren't compatible with yours, you leave; you don't try and force them into an unhappy, oppressive box.

The romantic relationship is incredibly strange and dysfunctional, but it fits well with the themes. I don't think everyone's going to enjoy this aspect, but I think the key is you're not supposed to romanticise or idealise it. It includes a very large age gap, and it is quite uncomfortable, but in a way that seems purposeful. Again, I don't want to spoil anything here, but there are explanations for everything. Including why everyone, and I mean everyone, in this family wants this one person.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It was one of the more unique books I've read this year, but I love strange things.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children meets The Addams Family is what ultimately sold this book to me – give me dark, brooding, gothic tales any day. But let’s be clear for a second, The Addams Family are BIG shoes to fill and they will always and forever remain top tier on the ghoulish, chaotic clan-o-meter. The Zarrin Family sit comfortably at mid point. There are a whole lot of fanged snouts, sinister shadows and ghostly encounters lurking deep within the pages of this deliciously dark book but the characters felt empty and disjointed and the plot just plain perplexing. Rose Szabo writes beyond the weird, instead boldly stepping into an otherness that is unapologetically and beautifully strange. Some readers are gonna love it, others not so much. If I had to some this book up in two words it would be, imperfectly peculiar.

Fans of Rory Power’s Wilder Girls will devour this.

One side point though, the title gave me serious Little Red Riding Hood vibes but the plot couldn’t be further from this. This is no fairytale folks!

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo is a dark and atmospheric horror story where magic and myth combine to captivate the reader.
Eleanor has returned to her family home for the first time in years, she has not visited since she was sent away to boarding school after a childhood incident that she doesn't even remember. Now a falling out with her best friend means that she has fled to the family she barely remembers. What she does know however is just how dangerous they are, and their reaction to her return is lukewarm at best. When her grandmother dies suddenly while reading Eleanor's future in the cards , it is a turning point for the family and they are forced to trust Eleanor to defend them from the darkness and danger that invades their home.
While this is ostensibly a YA release it is dark enough that it will appeal to older readers too. I loved how descriptive the author was about the setting of the book and the members of this very strange family. The story is layered and complex enough to really keep the reader interesting as the mystery unfolds. While the idea of a family of monsters is not unusual, the way that idea is used here is interesting, with the various family members having different abilities that often results in tensions around the dinner table. Eleanor has always felt weak because of her inability to transform, but it seems like the powers she inherits from the other side of her family may more that make up for her lack of transformative abilities. The book is something of a slow burn which makes sense given how important the atmosphere is to the storytelling., but once things start to happen the pace does pick up and the payoff is definitely worth the wait. I did appreciate that the author imbued some humanity into each of the monsters , learning about their past and the family history made them more sympathetic characters that I would have expected going into the book . That being said, I really enjoyed the darkness of the moments where the monsters were being truly monstrous.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publishers, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher for letting me read via Netgalley!

A weird tale of an estranged young woman seeking refuge with the monstrous relatives who sent her away 8 years prior, this story follows lonely Eleanor as she deciphers her fears and desires and hungers for a place within her dysfunctional addams type family. I really enjoyed this book, it's animalistic language, the concept of turning yourself inside out to reveal your other. A bizarre read that I would definitely recommend for gothic vibes and a unique take on werewolves!